[Manon Ress, Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment, Link] UACT applauds the Chilean Congress resolution calling on the President to advance the compulsory licensing request on HCV drugs made in March 2017 by patients, advocates including Innovarte NGO, and elected officials. The resolution, Number 1014, passed by a 96-0 vote with one abstention, and includes the signatures of representatives across the entire political spectrum [1].
In Chile, the private market price of sofosbuvir at the time of the compulsory licensing request was approximately $36,000 USD per patient. This price is well in excess of Chile’s GNI per capita of $14,100 USD [2]. The Ministry of Health currently pays $7,000 USD for a three-month supply of sofosbuvir, but is unable to treat many of the thousands of patients that require treatment, thus forcing patients to either pay exorbitant and often unaffordable prices or go untreated.
